MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 in the Council Chambers.
Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, members of the Board of Finance Daniel Farley, Laurene Pesce, Thomas Scoville, Wendy Traub, and James Zeller, Corp. Counsel Ernestine Yuille Weaver, Comptroller Alice Proulx, and Superintendent of Parks & Recreation Brett Simmons. Board of Finance member Mark Bushka was absent.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m.
MINUTES #025
On a motion by Mrs. Pesce, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board, with the exception of Mr. Zeller who abstained, voted to accept the minutes of the regular meeting held August 27, 2008.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC #035
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mrs. Traub, the board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. There was no public participation.
MODIFICATION OF 07/08 BUDGET #060
On a motion by Mr. Farley, seconded by Mr. Scoville, a discussion took place in regard to the modification of the 2007/2008 budget as follows:
0010.0046.5900.0000 BOE Program Expenditures * $28,776.00
0010.0046.5970.0000 BOE Capital Outlay ($ 2,564.00)
0010.0078.4050.0001 State Grant Agency Placement $26,212.00
* Additional appropriation request is greater than the original Superintendent request due to additional expenses recorded after 8/15/08.
Mrs. Traub indicated that she discussed her concerns regarding transfers for capital projects with the budget chair, Frank Rubino. She also expressed her concerns over the fact that the letter the city received for this request had not been reviewed by the Board of Education. The budget Chair, Frank Rubino, assured Mrs. Traub that the budget committee did discuss and tentatively approved the letter during their meeting last Wednesday, however, the Board of Education has not approved it. She wasn’t certain if it was protocol for the Board of Education to come forward with this recommendation.
Mrs. Traub further explained that the state statute specifies that any additional revenue coming in for the district goes to the Board of Education to offset their additional expenditures. She had no problem with that, but her concern stemmed from the fact that the Board of Education was able to find almost $800,000.00 in their budget to offset their $1.1 million overage. They received $250,000.00 from the Contingency account and they are currently asking for $26,000.00. She wondered what the Board of Education had forfeited for the amount the did not spend. This is supposed to be a lean budget, yet they found $300,000.00 in economies in staff alone. She was concerned because the Board of Education might not be getting staff or services that they need. This concerned her because the
$570,000.00 is available to them. Perhaps in going forward, the Board of Finance and the Board of Education could talk about the process so they can be assured that that money is available to them and that perhaps, early in the year, the Board of Education can feel more comfortable knowing they can receive that money. Her question remained, “Do we indeed have a bare bones budget if you can come up with $800,000.00, or are there that many economies that happen during the year?
She noted that the Board of Education had only spent 25% of their professional development money for the year. Are they bare bones? Are they padded because they’re worried they’re not going to get the money? She wanted to assure them that they are, per state statute.
Mr. Zeller indicated, that when the issues of excess cost grant reimbursements and their outlays come up, they should make sure those funds flow back to them. He would be in favor of making sure that’s the case in this instance. In moving forward, they should review the Board of Education’s overall budget and review where those different items are being saved within the Board of Education budget in the liaison’s dealings between the Board of Education and the Board of Finance.
Mrs. Traub said she e-mailed Mr. Rubino several times to express her concerns, and when she asked about the Capital Projects, she was told “We discussed it.” Unfortunately, she was unable to attend the budget committee meeting last week, so she can’t inform the Board of Finance what happened with Capital Projects, nor what happened with staff savings, because she didn’t get an answer. She was still communicating and attempting to ask questions ahead of time to prepare them, but still not getting any feedback.
Mrs. Pesce said she felt the Board of Finance did have a handle of what was included in the Board of Education’s original budget. Because this is a separate request from the original request for $250,000.00 from Contingency, she agreed that the Board of Education should have authorized the Superintendent to make this request. Had she received this letter, she would have assumed that the Board of Education knew and authorized Dr. O’Brien to request the additional funds from the city.
Mayor Bingham asked if the Board of Finance felt comfortable enough to vote on this matter knowing that only the Board of Education’s budget committee approved it and were waiting for full board approval.
Mrs. Traub said she clarified the past process to Mr. Rubino, that such recommendations went from the budget committee to the board, and the board approved the amount and authorized the Superintendent’s office to draft the letter to the Board of Finance. Although the budget committee wasn’t familiar with the process, there were other members on the board who were familiar with the process and she was concerned about that.
She wasn’t certain if the Board of Finance should table the matter until their next meeting. As far as she knew, the item had not been approved by the Board of Education. They do have an agenda item for tomorrow’s meeting, but it’s to discuss coming forward to the city regarding this year’s overage. She wasn’t certain whether or not the current request was on tomorrow night’s agenda.
Mr. Scoville felt the Board of Finance would have the final say and suggested amending the motion to approve the request, contingent upon the Board of Education’s approval.
Mrs. Pesce stated that it wasn’t the amount of money, it was more of a matter of procedure and she supported amending the motion to approve the request pending the Board of Education’s approval.
Mrs. Traub thought there should be an understanding of the process as a whole, no matter who is on the budget committee, so we don’t have repeat situations. She reiterated that the money coming back from the state is Board of Education money by state statute. The budget committee discussed this State Statute and the board is aware that that money has to be transferred directly to the Board of Education, so that’s not a question.
Ms. Proulx said she wasn’t familiar with that State Statute and asked if the Board of Education had already expended those funds on out-of-district costs?
When Mrs. Traub said “Absolutely”, Ms. Proulx said so they found their efficiencies within the general fund portion of their budget.
Mrs. Traub said they know going in any given year that their out-of-district costs are always going to be larger than what they’ve budgeted. It’s been occurring historically for five or six years. The fact is that they don’t feel comfortable budgeting for what they don’t know. The state has given them an additional $570,000.00 for their overage, which is, by state statute, allowed to be transferred right into their income to offset their additional expenditures. However, in this case, the Board of Education has found the money within their budget so it’s questionable as to which way is the best way for this to work. If they know that their overage is going to be “X” amount of dollars, is this something they can request earlier in
the year? She found paperwork from several years ago where this type of request was approved very early in the spring, so the Board of Education knew early in the year that the Board of Finance had already approved a transfer, if they needed it.
Mrs. Traub wanted to make sure that the Board of Education didn’t lose services or staff because of these out-of-district costs, however, there are other things in play and she was concerned that they came up with three quarters of a million dollars.
AMEND MOTION #505
Mr. Farley amended his motion to authorize the modification of the 2007/2008 budget as follows, pending the approval of the Board of Education. Mr. Scoville amended his second. Unanimous.
0010.0046.5900.0000 BOE Program Expenditures * $28,776.00
0010.0046.5970.0000 BOE Capital Outlay ($ 2,564.00)
0010.0078.4050.0001 State Grant Agency Placement $26,212.00
* Additional appropriation request is greater than the original Superintendent request due to additional expenses recorded after 8/15/08.
Mrs. Traub indicated that she’ll convey this motion to the Board of Education tomorrow so they can place the item under their budget committee comments if it’s not already on their agenda.
TAX COLLECTOR FORENSIC AUDIT #525
On a motion by Mrs. Traub, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to authorize the expenditure of UP TO $69,250.00 from financial management upgrade prior year encumbrances for services to be provided relating to the Tax Collector forensic audit. (Tabled 8/27/2008)
Mayor Bingham stated that this expenditure from UHY, LLC includes only the first two of three stages because we are assuming that we will not need the third stage, which is the forensic audit. This information will be used as a base line to help city officials write better contracts, put a better RFP together, and/or decide whether or not they want to stay with a private tax collector in the future.
REALLOCATION OF CAPITAL FUNDING #650
On a motion by Mr. Farley, seconded by Mrs. Traub, the board voted unanimously to authorize the reallocation of prior and current year capital funding as identified by the Superintendent of Parks & Recreation in the Comptroller’s memo dated 9/10/08.
Parks and Recreation Superintendent Brett Simmons said the reallocation will enable him to develop a list of priority projects that need to be completed. In doing so, a subcommittee was created consisting of two members of the Parks & Recreation Commission, Public Works Director Gerald Rollett and himself to come up with these projects, put an action plan in place and work with the Commission and his department to complete the projects.
Ms. Proulx explained that some projects were placed on hold or never completed due to the frequent turnover of Superintendents of Parks and Recreation. That money was identified during the budget process as still being available for projects. Due to the re-appropriation of these prior year funds, Ms. Proulx, Mayor Bingham and Mr. Rollett felt they could reduce their 08/09 capital budget and use the funds for the projects which they prioritized in their action plan.
Mrs. Traub said it appeared as though many park projects were zero expended at the end of the year. She asked Mr. Simmons if he was committing himself to using that money to do those projects.
Mr. Simmons said yes, their action plan will address these projects. He added that funds were distributed across the board and allocated for each park in the 2007/08 budget. One of those projects included updating park signs throughout the city. They are currently looking at making the signage project as a whole and that will be part of their new plan. They feel they can better address those high priority needs projects by pooling this money together.
Mayor Bingham noted that this request has not yet gone before Parks & Recreation for final approval.
Mrs. Pesce inquired how far back was money still available, and why was that money allowed to remain where it was.
Ms. Proulx indicated that a small amount of capital money ($300.00) remained in the year 2002. She explained that funds can be encumbered for as long as they need to be in order to complete “ongoing” projects.
Mr. Farley said it appeared as though $20,000.00 was originally budgeted for windows at the Christmas Village, and the current amount is $14,000.00.
Mr. Simmons indicated that $6,000.00 was encumbered and $14,000.00 will be used for Christmas Village projects that will be determined by the commission. They are looking to address masonry work, electrical work, and the replacement of windows, depending on how much work they can achieve with the funds they have.
Mr. Farley said he sees it as an open purchase order, but didn’t see it listed on the reallocation list.
Ms. Proulx said if they haven’t been able to attach a vendor to an ongoing project. The purchase orders are issued to the City of Torrington and when the vendor is selected the purchase orders are reduced by that amount. They want the $20,000.00 to remain available for projects associated with Christmas Village.
FINAL BUDGET TRANSFERS #935
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to authorize the final budget transfers for fiscal year 7/1/07 to 6/30/08 per the Comptroller’s memo dated 09/10/2008.
Mrs. Traub asked Ms. Proulx if she had a total amount from Contingency.
Ms. Proulx said it was approximately $60,000.00, and that most of it was recreation.
WRIGHT PIERCE #990
On a motion by Mr. Farley, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to authorize the payment of $8,100.00 from the Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Acct. #0490.8888.5900 to Wright Pierce for invoice #58669 for engineering services related to the Felicity Lane/Gulf Stream Sewer Crossing.
Mr. Scoville inquired about the balance in the Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Account.
Ms. Proulx said there was approximately $2,060,915.16.
HEMLOCK CONST. CO. #1020
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to authorize the payment of $164,160.95 from the Sanitary Sewer Capital Improvement Fund #0490 to Hemlock Construction Co., Inc. for requisitions #1 & 2 for work completed on the Sanitary Sewer Project Charles St. Relief Line at Winthrop Street.
Mrs. Traub indicated that the city is working on Winthrop Street and wanted to make certain the city didn’t just do a patch job on the sewer portions that are broken.
Mayor Bingham said it was his belief that the work on Winthrop Street is part of the ongoing long term capital improvements. He would have Mr. Rollett and Mr. Drew address the board during their next meeting on what they’re looking at for long term.
BUS: MAYOR & MEMBERS #1165
On a motion by Mr. Zeller, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to consider business by Mayor Bingham and members of the Board of Finance.
Mrs. Traub inquired whether the board will be getting adjusted year-end financials.
Ms. Proulx said she could provide them to the board.
ADJOURNMENT #1200
On a motion by Mrs. Traub, seconded by Mr. Zeller, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:40 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
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